Dark Social Marketing: The Rising Importance of Shared Content

In today's digital landscape, shared content is becoming a crucial metric for brands and marketers. Dark social, referring to content shared through private channels like email and instant messaging, plays a significant role in this. Coined by Alexis C. Madrigal in 2012, dark social accounts for a large portion of online sharing, presenting tracking challenges that lead to incomplete data and misattribution in marketing efforts.

Understanding Dark Social

Dark social in simple terms is traffic from private sharing channels. When users share links via private messaging apps or email, these shares are not captured by traditional web analytics, obscuring the origin of this traffic. Studies show that dark social accounts for 84% of consumers’ outbound sharing.

Challenges in Tracking Dark Social

The private nature of dark social makes it difficult to track insights. Unlike public social media interactions, dark social shares are not captured by standard web analytics, creating data gaps and complicating attribution. This often results in direct traffic, including dark social traffic, masking the true source of website visits.

Measuring Dark Social

To track dark social activity, marketers can opt for URL shorteners and UTM parameters to create trackable links, offering insights into link clicks and dark social activity. Social listening tools can track mentions and discussions about a brand across public forums and social media, providing indirect insights into dark social interactions.

Impact on Marketing Data

Dark social significantly influences brand perception and marketing effectiveness. Traditional analytics often miss the substantial traffic driven by dark social, leading to incomplete data and misattribution of marketing campaign success. This can underestimate the power of word-of-mouth sharing and skew marketing data, leading to misguided decisions.

Leveraging Dark Social for Brand Engagement

Despite measurement challenges, dark social offers significant opportunities for brands. Content shared through these channels often carries higher trust and authenticity, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. Engaging with private groups, forums, and niche communities allows brands to build meaningful relationships with their audience.

Encouraging Private Sharing

To utilize dark social effectively, encourage private sharing by implementing sharing buttons for email, WhatsApp, and other messaging platforms on your website. Creating high-quality, shareable content that evokes emotions or offers significant value can also increase private sharing.

The Importance of Shares in Content Analytics

Shares have emerged as a critical metric for assessing digital content success, as they indicate how compelling the content is to your end consumer,  and contribute to viral marketing, amplifying content reach and impact with authenticity and trust. According to RadiumOne, 82% of consumers consider recommendations from friends and family as the most trustworthy source of information. 

Insights from Adam Mosseri

Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, emphasizes the importance of shares in the platform's algorithm. He notes that shares are a strong indicator of interest and relevance, boosting content visibility. Content with more shares is more likely to appear on users' feeds and explore pages, increasing its reach and engagement. Mosseri suggests focusing on "sends per reach" as a key metric, reflecting the value and impact of content within the community.

Embracing Dark Social for Future Success

Dark social is a crucial aspect of digital marketing that requires innovative approaches to measure and leverage. By understanding its dynamics and implementing strategies to measure and leverage it, brands can unlock new opportunities for engagement and growth. Embracing dark social requires creativity and the right tools, but the rewards in terms of authentic connections and actionable insights are substantial. As the digital landscape evolves, integrating dark social into your overall marketing strategy will become increasingly essential for staying competitive and relevant.